Key facts
- Polish officials said the arson attack on a Starlink station in Wola Krobowska, Poland, on September 23, 2026, damaged the facility's power unit and backup generator, aiming to disrupt Ukrainian military communications.
- Polish Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Russian intelligence services are behind the Starlink station sabotage and noted they increasingly recruit individuals linked to the criminal underworld.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the Starlink station fire as another act of hybrid warfare, and Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak called it a further act of hybrid warfare.
- Western officials have tracked more than 210 sabotage and malign activity incidents linked to Russia across Europe since February 2022, according to the Associated Press.
On October 12, 2026, Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said German police detained two Turkish citizens suspected of setting fire to a Starlink station in Poland. Prime Minister Donald Tusk followed soon after Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski’s report of the arrests via social media.
Polish officials said the arson attack on a Starlink station in Wola Krobowska, Poland, on September 23, 2026, damaged the facility’s power unit and backup generator, aiming to disrupt Ukrainian military communications. The arson occurred on September 23, 2026, in Wola Krobowska, Poland, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Warsaw. In late September 2026, an arson attack set a Starlink station in Poland vital for Ukraine’s internet on fire, disrupting Ukrainian military and other services.
The fire damaged an electrical power unit and an auxiliary backup generator, targeting the infrastructure needed to sustain continuous ground‐to‐space feeder links. Polish security agencies said the sabotage aimed to disable Warsaw‐gateway satellite links, especially high‐throughput lines for Ukrainian military and civilian communications. On October 12, 2026, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that two Turkish nationals arrested in Germany at Poland’s request face charges of sabotage on behalf of a foreign intelligence service, per Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski.
The Starlink station is operated by Exatel, the Polish state telecommunications company, and the Starlink service is provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Polish officials said Ukraine’s military relies on tens of thousands of Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and that Poland pays for Ukraine’s Starlink subscription.
Elon Musk has allowed Ukrainians to use Starlink inside their own territory, including Russian‐occupied regions, but restricted use inside Russia; Starlink is deeply embedded in Ukraine’s military, with commanders and soldiers relying on satellite connectivity. Elon Musk activated Starlink over Ukraine in 2022, days after Russia’s full‐scale invasion, following a plea from Kyiv. Musk clashed with Ukrainian officials over the war; 2026, he disabled thousands of Russian grey‐market Starlink terminals in Ukraine, hurting Russian forces; Ukraine now seeks to use them to attack Russian territory.
Western officials have tracked more than 210 sabotage and malign activity incidents linked to Russia across Europe since February 2022, according to the Associated Press.
Ukraine’s military widely uses the Starlink satellite internet service provided by SpaceX for battlefield communications, and Poland has paid for the Starlink satellite internet service provided by SpaceX. Since Russia’s full‐scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western officials have recorded over 210 incidents of suspected Russian‑linked sabotage across Europe, including arson, cyber attacks and hybrid warfare tactics.
EU officials have warned of mounting Russian sabotage, cyber and hybrid attacks across Europe aiming to erode support for Ukraine or impact Ukraine directly. The case is the latest in a string of incidents that EU officials deem part of a Russian campaign of sabotage and hybrid attacks aimed at eroding support for Ukraine.
The Russian-linked attacks seek to erode support for Ukraine, create fear and discord in European societies, and drain investigative resources. Russia frequently relies on proxies for these attacks, and some perpetrators claim they did not know that Moscow hired them.
Russian intelligence services carry out almost daily subversion aimed at Ukraine’s allies, started in early 2024 via Telegram recruitment, including shopping‐center attacks, with changing methods, unlimited resources, and a regenerative threat. Polish Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Russian intelligence services carry out almost daily acts of subversion targeting Ukraine’s allies, and Norway’s Police Security Service director-general Beate Gangås likened the threat to a dragon whose heads keep growing.
Polish Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Russian intelligence services are behind the Starlink station sabotage and noted they increasingly recruit individuals linked to the criminal underworld. Polish Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Russian intelligence services increasingly recruit individuals linked to the criminal underworld to carry out sabotage attacks.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the Starlink station fire as another act of hybrid warfare, and Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak called it a further act of hybrid warfare. The facility was not destroyed and the fire was suspected as sabotage linked to hybrid warfare orchestrated by Russia.
Russia usually rejects European allegations of hybrid warfare or systematic sabotage, labeling them anti‐Russian hysteria or disinformation. The arson incident occurred in late September 2026 at an operational satellite gateway facility situated near Warsaw.
Polish officials have started extradition talks with Germany to send the two suspects back to Poland for trial, while European security agencies and satellite firms have boosted physical safeguards, perimeter watches, and power backups at regional teleports and orbital uplink gateways. Polish officials did not specify exactly where or when the two Turkish men were allegedly detained in Germany.
German police made the arrests on behalf of Polish services, according to Deutsche Welle. The investigation and trial of the suspects continue, highlighting Germany’s involvement since German police made the arrests on its soil in connection with the Poland‐based attack.
Masovia is the province that includes Warsaw and lies not far from Poland’s eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine. Polish officials have not released the suspects’ names in line with Polish privacy rules.
A British court found three men guilty of arson in a March 2024 plot targeting a London warehouse containing Starlink terminals for Ukraine, which prosecutors said Russia’s intelligence services masterminded. The two detained Turkish men will face charges in Poland of carrying out sabotage on the instructions of a foreign intelligence agency. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to a request for comment, and Moscow has dismissed similar accusations as baseless anti‐Russian hysteria.
The Polish government has repeatedly accused Russia of similar sabotage since February 2022 and sees Poland as a hub for Western military and humanitarian aid targeted by hybrid threats. Prime Minister Donald Tusk had earlier warned of potential Russian hybrid attacks, including possible drone and missile use against neighboring countries assisting Ukraine. The arrest highlights growing security concerns surrounding commercial telecommunications hubs that support frontline operations. Targeting the Polish ground gateway shows the risks of physical vulnerabilities in commercial satellite ground stations, where unhardened civilian teleports are easy targets for asymmetric disruption.
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